Cold War Culture

The geopolitical cleavage which defined the second half of the 20th century was not only a period of fierce competition between two military superpowers, but it also engendered specific ways of thinking, feeling and acting for millions of people on both sides of the Iron Curtain. On the one hand, the military rivalry had promoted the vision that casts the world into competing binaries of good and evil. On the other hand, it generated popular resistance and subversion of the official propaganda, creating anti-war movements, counter-cultural trends in music, theater and art, thereby creating a space for alternative thinking.

The Havighurst Center will considered these cultural reflections of the Cold War era as well as the remnants of the Cold War culture and thinking today as part of its focus on the Cold War in Fall 2007. The Annual Young Researchers Conference, the Colloquia Series and various invited guest lecturers throughout the year considered such topics as popular resistance and maintaining personal autonomy under repressive political regimes, responses to political rituals and propaganda, everyday life under the Cold War, the reinvention of history and building memories of the Cold War, the reflections of the Cold War thinking and practices in today's world.

History

HistoryWiz: The Cold War HistoryWiz is a nonprofit organization whose aim is to promote an interest in history. The site is aimed primarily at the non-scholar adult, high school, and lower college level.

HISTORY WEBSITE In World War II, the 3AD saw the most combat, inflicted the most damage, and took the most casualties and during four decades of the Cold War, the Division was NATO's primary point-guard for the critical Fulda Gap in West Germany.

Newseum: The Berlin Wall
This site, created by the Newseum, a museum of news set to open in Washington, DC in 2008, provides a history of the Berlin Wall, an interactive exhibit that explores the news and how it differed in East and West Berlin, and an exhibition about the falsification of photographs in Stalinist Russia.

Atomic Bombing: How to Protect Yourself
This web-based document recreates a classic 1950 book detailing the dangers posed by an atomic bomb and the precautions that one may take to minimize the risk of contamination and death.

Civil Defense Films

House in the Middle, The (1954)
Atomic tests at the Nevada Proving Grounds show effects of a nuclear blast on well-kept homes, homes filled with trash and combustibles, and homes painted with reflective white paint. Asserts that cleanliness is an essential part of civil defense preparedness and that it increased survivability. Produced by the National Paint, Varnish and Lacquer Association

Cold War Links

Gulag Forced Labor Camps The system of forced labor camps was established in the first years of the Communist regime in the Soviet Union. It became essential part of the Soviet repressive system.

The Open Society Archives (OSA)
The Open Society Archives is an archives and a center for research and education. Its collections and activities relate to the period after the Second World War, mainly The Cold War, The history of the formerly communist countries, Human rights, and War crimes.

The Cold War Museum
The Cold War Museum was founded to preserve Cold War history and honor Cold War Veterans.

Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies

The Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies is an interdisciplinary center devoted to programs designed to foster interdisciplinary research on the most important questions relating to the future of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia and to service and learning activities that provide a greater understanding of this region for the student community.